Our study on complex cryptic co-infections of Spiroplasma in European Myrmica ants is now published with @tparmentier.bsky.social @emmavanreempts.bsky.social @selfishmeme.bsky.social Tessa, Wouter and Diego doi.org/10.1111/mec.... .
Many bacterial taxa evolved facultative symbiotic associations with insects and spread through host populations by horizontal and maternal transmission. Co-infection at the individual host level may ...
Sampling huge red wood ant mounds in the Belgian Ardennes
@monitant.bsky.social
Nick Wybouw
Thomas Parmentier
Insects usually care for their own young, but sometimes they also help other species. This #RSOS study found that yellow meadow #ants protect the eggs of root aphids in their nests during winter. Read more: royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/... @tparmentier.bsky.social @wybouw.bsky.social
Royal Society Publishing
Ontdek alles rond hoe detectiehonden kunnen worden ingezet om rode bosmierkoepels op te sporen en te monitoren, geen aprilgrap :). Ik zal hier ook een praatje doen over mierengasten bij bosmieren
Ant-myrmecophile interaction: Formica sanguinea and the food begging rove beetle Dinarda dentata
Thomas Parmentier
Thomas Parmentier
Thomas Parmentier
eggs are piled and nursed by the workers, note the green Anoecia nymph that hatched from an egg,
more videos via doi.org/10.6084/m9.f...
We found that Rickia wasmannii, known from Myrmica workers, also infects queens, males, and larvae, with spillover to nest associates (incl. Lomechusa).
doi.org/10.1007/s000...
Complex dynamics in the ant microcosm --> more ant–fungus work coming
@insectessociaux.bsky.social
@dhaelewa.bsky.social
Ants meet woodlice, discover the hidden world of their interactions in our new review.
We explore the full spectrum of ant-woodlice relationships: from predation, to facilitation, and eventually to facultative and obligate ant association.
doi.org/10.1016/j.ej...
@ulbrecherche.bsky.social
Video
Thomas Parmentier
New paper with @wybouw.bsky.social on the protection of aphid eggs in ant nests:
doi.org/10.1098/rsos...
*black eggs --> Anoecia zirnitsi, host: Lasius flavus
*eggs rapidly retrieved among ant brood and protected against predators and fungi
*mediated by chemical cues, transferred to glass dummies
Thomas Parmentier
Thomas Parmentier
Thomas Parmentier
Kom naar de MIERENDAG 2026 van het Instituut voor Natuurwetenschappen @odiseehogeschool.bsky.social en het INBO
📅 Di 26 mei 2026 - 9u-13u
📍 Koninklijk Belgisch Instituut voor Natuurwetenschappen, Vautierstraat 29, 1000 Brussel
📩 Schrijf je hier in vóór 20/05: forms.gle/ucSykHwn2iRA...
